TESTIMONY

Janet Hill Talbert: Lost in the City

By Jewel TaylorThe 700 Club

CBN.com
 Janet Hill moved to New York City right out of college with no job and no place to live — just the desire to make it big in the publishing industry. She started in an entry level position and worked her way up to vice-president of Doubleday Publishing in 2000.

"I worked very hard," Janet tells The 700 Club. "I was working so much that that's the thing that I think ultimately got me off track. You work hard, you get promoted, so you work hard some more, and you think you're doing it on your own steam and you’re not."

Janet grew up in a Christian home and was baptized at the age of eight, but life as a young, single professional in New York City was a far cry from the quiet, simple life of home.

"It’s very hectic and I had a very busy job, very demanding job. I lived 600 miles away from my family, and I was the only one here. It certainly had wonderful friends, but you need sometimes closer than friends I was treated for depression, but there was still something missing. I was coping because you have to. You just try a little harder, push a little harder, but again as you do that, the more you try, the more you try to pretend everything is okay. You're feeling fine, the more exhausting it becomes."

Janet knew she was close to her breaking point when she refused to even acknowledge her own birthday. She says, "All I wanted to do that day was stay in bed, but I knew I couldn't I had to go to work. I got my clothes out, set up my ironing board in my little hallway in my old apartment, started ironing and then I just started feeling so upset. That was the moment when I did feel overwhelmed. I thought, 'Okay, what can I do? I can get down on my knees and I can pray. I'm going to ask God to help me. Please have mercy on me. I cannot do this alone. I can't.'

"I got back up. I started to feel better. I started to iron my clothes. I got dressed and made it through that day. Then I started to make it through the next day. I started to read my Bible. I began to feel calmer and stronger."

Janet says God led her away from publishing to a new career. She started her own jewelry line, “On This Rock.”

"I want people to feel comforted. This is Proverbs 3:5: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, learn not on your own understanding. This is the 23rd Psalm. To wear the Scripture, it's comforting.

"People just need a hold of God's unchanging hand. Don't let go and just know that He will lead you. He will guide you. Jesus is our Shepherd. He will take us where He wants us to go, not where we want to g
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